Eric Matthews “Yes, Everyone”

“Yes, Everyone,” that’s a good one to talk about. Someday I will get the demo
version of the song, so you can hear the original intent. That said, the released version is a stunner. The song is very dark lyrically. I was reading Revelations and stuff about the coming Anti-Christ, the end times, and modern prophesy. I strung together a set of ideas in words that sounded scary. The acoustic guitar is the center of the thing and you can hear how the verse melody comes from the primary notes that snake around in the guitar part.

But then Jason Falkner came along. On this one, he really shined. He first laid down some amazing electric guitar texture, and his arpeggio 8va guitar melody figure that works in the verses is really creative. Every idea he put down on that one, they stuck like glue. It’s easily one of the best things I ever heard Jason do is his guitar part that comes out from my woodwind sectional. I wrote this little flute and oboe duet and as the last note of it rings out, Jason comes in with this amazing 12-string guitar melody that is so agile and acrobatic that as the end of the song begins, it gives you whiplash.

I love the great creepy element that sewed the who recording together is the drums and percussion. They plod along like a machine, like the death machine that is the future of mankind. There’s no hint of redemption of God’s grace, no Heaven, nothing that provides some relief from the final horror that nobody believes in. If I ever grow up, I want to think less like Edgar Allen Poe.

“Yes, Everyone” is taken from Eric Matthews’ 1997 Sub Pop album, The Lateness of the Hour.

555 is a series where we invite a musician to talk about the fifth song on one of their albums, which will be published at 5 PM (CST) on Fridays.